4Kids Entertainment
4Kids Entertainment is an American company, responsible for the production of the English-language version of the [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_(anime) Yu-Gi-Oh!], Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL anime series from 2000 to 2012. They also handle English production for a number of other anime series as well as creating original series. 4Kids Entertainment was an anime production company that was in charge of the English localization of Sonic X. Like many other Japanese animated television shows, the company heavily edited Sonic X for American viewers to satisfy broadcasting regulations and standards. Several scenes, especially those that contained violence or even death, were not shown. In addition, the deaths of three characters were censored and sidestepped and the ending to the second season was greatly altered. After Deem Bristow's death, the 4Kids voice cast took over as the official English voice cast for the Sonic the Hedgehog video games in 2005 starting from Shadow the Hedgehog. This was up until late 2010, when the entire voice cast (except for Mike Pollock, Dr. Eggman's voice actor) was replaced yet again, starting with Sonic Free Riders. The CEO of 4Kids, Alfred R. Kahn retired on 11 January 2011. In 2012, 4Kids was sued due to a lawsuit from TV Tokyo, who accused them of entering illegal agreements that allowed them to collect royalties from Yu-Gi-Oh! without paying a portion to TV Tokyo. 4Kids filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and later reincorporated as 4Licensing Corporation, with their rights for the English distribution of Sonic X being transferred to Kidsco Media Ventures. 4Kids Productions Much of the content licensed and distributed by 4Kids Entertainment and presented on 4Kids TV is managed by 4Kids Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of 4Kids Entertainment. First launched in 1992, 4Kids Productions deals primarily with television, film, home video, and music licenses, and manages the programming for 4Kids TV. Airing blocks United States On September 14, 2002, after Fox Kids was dissolved following the purchase of Fox Family Worldwide by Disney, 4Kids Entertainment introduced FoxBox. In January 2005, the block was re-branded 4Kids TV. 4Kids Entertainment was wholly responsible for the content of the block and collected all advertising revenue from it, making it one of the main outlets in the United States for 4Kids licenses and properties. In September 2008, 4Kids Entertainment bought a programming block on the CW, calling it the CW4kids. This block was run at the same time as 4KidsTV. All 5 seasons of [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Yu-Gi-Oh!_(anime) Yu-Gi-Oh!], as well as many Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's and Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL episodes are available for viewing on their website. Many episodes of 5D's and ZEXAL are available in Japanese with English subtitles on their Toonzaki website. Currently, 4Kids Entertainment broadcasts Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. Later, its 4Kids TV block on Fox ended, so 4Kids now only broadcasts on the CW. Many of the shows from its 4KidsTV were moved online to its website. On August 18, 2012 at 11:30 AM EDT, the dub of Episode 25 of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL aired, marking 4Kids' final broadcast on a Saturday morning block and the final episode of Yu-Gi-Oh! to air on a 4Kids-produced network. On August 25, 2012, Vortexx premiered, a programming block which features Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' rights On March 30, 2011, TV Tokyo planned to terminate all rights to Yu-Gi-Oh! from 4Kids and filed a lawsuit on "Illegal Transaction". In June 2012, 4Kids sold the rights to their current assets, including the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime franchise, in a joint agreement, to Konami and Saban Brands. Konami received the Yu-Gi-Oh! rights; Saban received the rights to air what was previously the Toonzai Saturday morning block and all of the other programs associated with it, including Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL. 4Kids Entertainment retained the rights to dub the series until Episode 41; later episodes were dubbed by Konami. Criticism Fans have criticized 4Kids due to the changes they make to the dubbed version of the Yu-Gi-Oh! series. 4Kids often completely change the musical score and sound effects (with many of the 4Kids dub sound effects being made from or sounding like the original Japanese sound effects). In the 4Kids dub, the content is often censored and 'Americanized' to suit a younger English-speaking American audience. Written language characters (both Japanese and English) and typically removed or replaced with unreadable content. Some scenes that are removed do not appear to be for censorship reasons at all; some fans speculate that this is due to time constraints or FCC regulations. Fans were particularly upset with the large numbers of episodes skipped from the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's ''series, leaving many questions unanswered, especially the ''5D's series. Notable 4Kids-represented voice actors/actresses *Greg Abbey (voice of Sam Speed in Sonic X) *Amy Birnbaum (voice of Charmy, Helen and Cosmo in Sonic X) *Pete Capella (voice of Silver) *Dan Green (voice of Knuckles, Vector, Storm, and Mephiles) *Jason Griffith (voice of Sonic, Shadow, and Jet) *Suzanne Goldish (voice of Chris in Sonic X) *Wayne Grayson *Rebecca Handler (voice of Cream and Vanilla) *Matt Hoverman *Bella Hudson (voice of Blaze, Wave, Maria, and Shahra) *Liza Jacqueline (voice of Omochao in Sonic Riders) *Jennifer Johnson (voice of Lindsey in Sonic X) *Ted Lewis (voice of Nelson and Yellow Zelkova in Sonic X) *Rachael Lillis (voice of Danny in Sonic X) *Jerry Lobozzo (voice of Chuck in Sonic X) *Caren Manuel (voice of Rouge) *Matthew Mitler *Lisa Ortiz (voice of Amy Rose) *Amy Palant (voice of Tails) *Mike Pollock (voice of Dr. Eggman, Eggman Nega, and Ella in Sonic X) *Kayzie Rogers *Jonathan Todd Ross *Sean Schemmel (voice of Black Doom) *Michael Sinterniklaas (voice of adult Chris in Sonic X) *Veronica Taylor (voice of Earthia in Sonic X) *Marc Thompson (voice of the G.U.N. Commander) *Kerry Williams *David Wills (voice of Espio) *Oliver Wyman (voice of Big) *Stuart Zagnit Former *Maddie Blaustein (voice of the President and Omega; died in 2008) *Darren Dunstan (voice of Bocoe and Mister Tanaka in Sonic X) *Megan Hollingshead (voice of Scarlet Garcia from Sonic X) *Andrew Rannells (voice of Omega and various G.U.N. troopers in Shadow the Hedgehog) *Tara Sands *Eric Stuart *Jimmy Zoppi (voice of Vector in Shadow the Hedgehog) Sonic media containing 4Kids voices *''Sonic X'' *''Sonic Rush'' *''Shadow the Hedgehog'' *''Sonic Riders'' *''Sonic the Hedgehog'' *''Sonic Rivals'' *''Sonic and the Secret Rings'' *''Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games'' *''Sonic Rivals 2'' *''Sonic Rush Adventure'' *''Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity'' *''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' *''Sonic Unleashed'' *''Sonic and the Black Knight'' *''Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games'' *''Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing'' Trivia *All the main series games with the 4Kids voice actors are all E10+. These games are Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), and Sonic Unleashed, as well as Sonic and the Black Knight and Sega Superstars Tennis, though both are not mainstream games. *4Kids produced a crossover featuring Sonic X and other shows called The Fight for the FoxBox in 2003. Category:Animation companies